Ascension Reflection

Happy Ascension Thursday! Today, we celebrate Christ's glory in Heaven as He sits at the right hand of His Father.

I'd like to share an insightful reflection on today's gospel reading (LUKE 24:46-53) by Bishop Robert Barron:

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"Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus is taken up to his Father in heaven. We tend to read the Ascension along essentially Enlightenment lines, rather than biblical lines—and that causes a good deal of mischief. Enlightenment thinkers introduced a two-tier understanding of heaven and earth. They held that God exists, but that he lives in a distant realm called heaven, where he looks at the human project moving along, pretty much on its own steam, on earth.

"On this Enlightenment reading, the Ascension means that Jesus goes up, up, and away, off to a distant and finally irrelevant place. But the biblical point is this: Jesus has gone to heaven so as to direct operations more fully here on earth. That’s why we pray, 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'

"Jesus has not gone up, up, and away, but rather—if I can put it this way—more deeply into our world. He has gone to a dimension that transcends but impinges upon our universe."

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I really appreciate this perspective, because it's very true that we often imagine Jesus as living far, far away in a place we could never know. In reality, neither of those thoughts are true; Jesus lives in each one of us, and His throne rests in a place we very well may reside in the next life.

In all our struggles, in all our challenges, let us always remember that Christ is holding our hand every step of the way. His Ascension was not an act of neglect by our Lord; rather, it was a necessary transition that allowed us to be fully immersed into the Christian ministry, becoming passionate disciples for Him Who provides all things!

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A reminder that Ascension Thursday is a holy day of obligation. Be sure to attend mass this evening to receive Jesus! (see mass times at: https://masstimes.org/)